Can't locate a partially saved dmg file

[krumsicle]

Well, I did my best for the title of the thread...it's kind of an odd situation, but please bear with me:

Several days ago, I needed to reformat the external hdd that housed my Time Machine partition, so I decided to make an image of the TM partition. I did so in Disk Utility by selecting the TM partition, clicking 'New Image' at the top, and saving to the desktop it in a compressed format. HOWEVER, I completely forgot that there would not be nearly enough room on the internal hdd. I had about 50gb of free space on the internal hdd for a 250gb dmg file.

Ok, no big deal right? Wrong. After a while of the saving process (I still hadn't realized my mistake), it stopped and essentially said: There's no more room on the hdd. The saving process will now stop.

So now I realize that I should've saved the dmg to my other external hdd. And now I have something like 40mb (mb, NOT gb) of free space on my internal hdd. But when I went to delete the partially saved dmg file on my desktop, it wasn't there. There was no icon for it on the desktop. However, when I searched specifically for that file through finder and clicked 'get info', the directory said it was located on my desktop. I could not find any way to delete that file...It just didn't give me the option...I couldn't drag it to the trash either.

Since then: I've saved a new dmg of the TM partition to my other external hdd. I reformatted the original external hdd so that I dedicated the entire disk to TM instead of multiple partitions (my original intention). TM has backed up several times on the newly reformatted hdd. I can no longer locate the original half-saved dmg file via the finder search...it's just not there anymore (I definitely did not delete it, bc I never got the chance).

My problem: I have virtually no more space on my internal hdd (I've deleted a few small things since then) because this phantom file has somehow evaded me. It is definitely still taking up its 50gb of space on my hdd, and I simply have no idea how to find it or delete it. The only trace of it I can find is in a TM backup from shortly after that failed dmg saving.

I could not find any case like this anywhere on the internet, and I just don't know what to do. I'm not a computer programmer by any means, but I have more than my fair share of geek blood in me, and I would consider myself to be a very competent troubleshooter. Sorry about this book, but I would appreciate any ideas. Thanks!

My other feelings right now:

 

[DewGuy1999]

You could try using one of the programs listed in this article, if you can find it you may be able to delete it.

4 Useful Visualizer Programs to Monitor Your Mac’s Storage Space

 

[krumsicle]

Got it!

Thanks DewGuy...I downloaded GrandPerspective, and I think that's a great tool! Unfortunately, I still couldn't locate the file.

HOWEVER, I did finally figure it out!!!

Now listen carefully to those of you who may be having similar problems. These are very intricate directions:

1). Carefully move the cursor to the top left corner of your screen.
2). Single-click (DO NOT double-click) on the Apple icon located at said corner.
3). Slowly move your cursor downwards until it highlights the "Restart..." option. (located between "Sleep" and "Shut Down...")
4). Click (single).
5). Your computer will then open an extremely complicated and wordy dialogue box that says: "Are you sure you want to restart your computer now?"
6). After carefully reading through this window several times, click (single) the box labeled "restart".

And what-do-you-know? It works! I know these directions are sketch and you could be taking a big risk, but you should try it sometime...it can be good for your computer!

Thanks guys.

 

[DewGuy1999]

Thanks DewGuy...I downloaded GrandPerspective, and I think that's a great tool! Unfortunately, I still couldn't locate the file.

HOWEVER, I did finally figure it out!!!

Now listen carefully to those of you who may be having similar problems. These are very intricate directions:

1). Carefully move the cursor to the top left corner of your screen.
2). Single-click (DO NOT double-click) on the Apple icon located at said corner.
3). Slowly move your cursor downwards until it highlights the "Restart..." option. (located between "Sleep" and "Shut Down...")
4). Click (single).
5). Your computer will then open an extremely complicated and wordy dialogue box that says: "Are you sure you want to restart your computer now?"
6). After carefully reading through this window several times, click (single) the box labeled "restart".

And what-do-you-know? It works! I know these directions are sketch and you could be taking a big risk, but you should try it sometime...it can be good for your computer!

Thanks guys.

Interesting that you did that, because if one of those utilities wasn't of help I was going to suggest that you try restarting. I believe that OS X clears out temp (temporary) files when the Mac is restarted, and your experience proves that belief. You don't need to worry about a risk in restarting as there really aren't any (other than losing unsaved work if you haven't saved, and most Apps will prompt you do so). Glad to hear that you regained your missing space.